Kidde Fire Extinguisher Recall

AZ Native · May 19, 2018

@haknslash The older boats have a tube mounted in the console just aft of the throttles with screw cap to access the fire extinguisher. I found that all the Kiddie and First Alert small extinguishers fit in the tube. Older jet skis used a similar tube. I recommend not overthinking this. Buy a new one every few years and have fun discharging the old one away from things you care about. The new ones will work fine.

haknslash · May 19, 2018

Ah I had one of those tubes in my old Seadoo that held a 2.5 lb Kidde push button extinguisher. Ironically I got stopped by the coast guard for a safety check and the unit had already leaked down after just a year. I was only suggesting to help since I work for a fire extinguisher manufacturer. Most of the cylinders and envelope dimensions are somewhat close.

tdonoughue · May 20, 2018

druppert said:
Luckily the one I stupidly drilled through yesterday is under recall so they’ll be sending me a new one. ... . They also make one hell of a mess when the contents are deployed. Everything from the bow to the battery compartment was covered in a layer of white powder.

haknslash said:
BC (sodium bicarbonate) or Purple K (potassium bicarbonate) is what you want in the boat if you're using a dry chemical. You don't want to extinguish ABC in your engine compartment, around any electronics or bare exposed aluminum metal as it will corrode. It is the death sentence for electronics and the agent dust is so fine you will not clean it all. This is why it is not used around aircraft. If you want the best clean agent (no mess to clean up) you would go with Halon but it's pricey. CO2 would be the cheaper gas alternative. If you're worrying about putting out a wood or paper class A fire on your boat, use a bucket and the water you're floating in. You could always keep a water extinguisher too but not really practical as they are large cylinders (2.5 gallons and up) so it would eat into space. Just use the lake or river

@druppert, please make note of what @haknslash said about the dry chemical and its affect on electronics. I had a much smaller accidental discharge in my helm compartment of an ABC. Very ugly to clean up, but be sure you get everything cleaned very well, or in a short time you will have no electronics.

zipper · May 20, 2018

I looked at both of mine today, and found both to be on the list. The one at the helm was original, and dated 06. The other one was from 2013. Replacing now. Here is what they look like.